MTC's Friedman Theatre- The Whitest Stage on Broadway

[iWannaBEaSedaris]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 9:19pm

Has anyone noticed that with the opening of 'The Country House', it will have been over 2 years and 8 productions since a non Caucasian played the theatre in any on stage capacity?

How is no one holding Lynne Meadow or Nancy Piccione accountable here! It's a non profit organization that has for over 2 seasons now devoted itself on it's Broadway stage exclusively to stories of rich or upper class whites.

Thoughts? If this was happening at a regional theatre in the South, Equity would be up in arms.


Playbill Vault's Records on the Friedman Updated On: 9/29/14 at 09:19 PM

[CurtainsUpat8]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 9:23pm

That's pretty interesting. Good Question.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 9:24pm

But, but the Roundabout...

[iWannaBEaSedaris]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 9:26pm

What about the Roundabout?

[AntV]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 9:46pm

Daniel Sunjata is considered Caucasian?

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 9:46pm

Roundabout wins in that regard

[iWannaBEaSedaris]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 9:50pm

Not even close, they just had a Joshua Henry in Violet as a principal and also feature and Chita Rivera in Edwin Drood.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 10:30pm

Meet the delicious Daniel Sunjata. He is the star of Graceland, 9/11 conspiracy theorist, and is currently in the Country House at Friedman Theatre. He is also African American, Irish, and German ancestry.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 11:05pm

While this might be somewhat accurate for the Broadway venue, there is always a great deal of diversity displayed at their City Center venues.

Additionally, they may have all been white - but the men of CASA VALENTINA were all a great display of diversity.

[Kad]

Posted: 9/29/14 at 11:12pm

Roundabout and MTC both are stereotyped as theatre for old white folks. And, honestly, they largely deserve the reputation.

Their off-Broadway offerings do have some more diversity, but, as subscriber-based theatres, they are catering to a certain audience, of fairly conservative taste.

With the subscription model largely proving unsustainable, as younger theatregoers simply won't shell out several hundred dollars to these companies for what they offer, they will be forced to adapt.

Updated On: 9/30/14 at 11:12 PM

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 7:01am

Ding, ding, ding. Exactly, Kad.

"Additionally, they may have all been white - but the men of CASA VALENTINA were all a great display of diversity."
What....?

[AC126748]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 8:44am

One of the most successful plays to be done at the Friedman in the last few years, GOOD PEOPLE, had a major plot line that dealt with race.

No theatre company is perfect, but MTC is producing this season a play with an all-Asian cast and a play with an African-American actor in a lead role so far.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 9:10am

What's confusing about CASA VALENTINA showing diversity? Diversity isn't just about race. Gender identity and sexual orientation also play a part in diversity.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 10:29am

MTC's lack of diversity is just as prevalent behind the scenes as it is on stage. When was the last time they did work written or directed by a person of color on Broadway in the Friedman?

And the fact that GOOD PEOPLE was the last time an actor of color appeared on stage in that space (over three years ago) is shameful. I can't even remember the last time it happened there prior to that, which is worse.

[Phillypinto]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 10:38am

Maybe all the people that were right for those roles just happened to be white

[newintown]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 10:42am

Although I vastly prefer a season that displays more diversity (like that of the Public, often), MTC is giving their (dusty old white) customers what they think they want. They're under no moral imperative to follow any kind of programmatic quotas.

Fortunately, audiences in New York have choices about where to go, what to see, and how to spend their money.

[cockeyedoptimist2]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 10:49am

Yep and that's why Lincoln Center remains my favorite Broadway company by far.

[Brick]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 11:57am

Kad hit it on the head with this. While there might be exceptions, the reputations are largely earned.

When a friend of mine see a reading of a new play, or read one, we'll often comment, "It's an MTC play" and know exactly what the other means.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 12:19pm

Plus, this play shares the same sort of "Big White Family And Their Big White Problems" sub-genre that the Sharr White play had a year ago (a play I alone thought better than the critics seemed to). I have known many big white families, experienced their myriad problems, and believe they are wonderful fodder for drama. But it would be nice to see more compelling casting of roles in said plays.

And no one has noticed: couldn't one of the actors in "Love Letters" be non-traditional? I know it's about WASPS, but really, couldn't one of those sets feature a person of color? It is possible. WASPS adopt. WASPS intermarry. I am as interested in seeing the families themselves reflect more of that quite ubiquitous syndrome, not just interested in the voices of other races and ethnicities.

"Love Letters" could be called Rich White Love.

Updated On: 9/30/14 at 12:19 PM

[newintown]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 12:35pm

In Love Letters, both characters frequently refer to themselves as WASPs, the first letter of which stands unmistakably for "white." The lives they describe are the lives of New England upper-class old-family white people. If either were of color, it would be so unusual that it would have to be acknowledged. And the text offers no such acknowledgement.

I can't see any way the play would make sense if an actor of color played either role, any more than it would make sense for a white actor to play Walter Lee Younger.

Of course you could do it with James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson; but it would only really work if you turned off your brain while watching, and listened like a dog listens to a human.

Updated On: 9/30/14 at 12:35 PM

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 12:40pm

@iluvtheatretrash: Not the diversity we're talking about. Casa Valentina was as diverse as an episode of the Brady Bunch.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 12:41pm

Big Daddy, Blanche, Willy are white, southern, or Jewish. And have all moved past those defining demographics in casting. As have countless others. It's acting. It's about suspending disbelief. It's about pretending. Within minutes, the audience hears the characters. I'll take it in another direction: If Bradley Cooper can play John Merrick, Diahann Carrol can do "Love Letters." Imagination, everybody has it. Including the audience.

[Kad]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 1:11pm

To me, A.R. Gurney is synonymous with the "rich white person family drama."

Roundabout lacks diversity as badly as MTC, though their last season was diverse... (for them). However, it is a bit too late for them to shake their image. It's the position of their higher-ups to rationalize lack of diversity of being a byproduct of their mission to revive works. However, the argument is flimsy, considering they have a new play initiative, have begun reviving works from as recently as the 90s, and the historical presence of works like Machinal.


As Newintown said, there is plenty of counter-programming to Roundabout and MTC, particiularly at the Public or Playwrights Horizon or any number of downtown theatres.

[newintown]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 1:20pm

"Big Daddy, Blanche, Willy are white, southern, or Jewish."

Yes, they are; and casting people who don't fit the character as described in the text, without acknowledging how unusual it would be for this person to lead this life - it works for some people. For me, however, it's mere novelty.

An Asian Big Daddy who speaks his text in Mandarin, a morbidly obese Blanche on a scooter, a 10-year-old female Willy Loman - these, too, would be interesting as novelties. But do they tell the story as well as a simpler approach would? Different people would answer that question differently.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 8:54pm

I think seizing the mid-century WASP subculture of Connecticut as a milieu that must be rigidly preserved via casting decisions (hey, even pogrom-besieged Anatevka is cast with gentiles now and then), in ways that, say, the south of Williams or the Jewish American lower middle class of Miller must not be, is bizarre. But then, surely Diana Rigg -- due later this fall in "Love Letters" -- will also be required to use not only an American accent, but a very true blue drop jaw cadence, as attention must be paid. Why Gurney World must be served but Williams and Miller can stretch just seems a strange, perversely narrow aesthetic, elitism. If the bigger issue is non-traditional casting, let's accept our differences. But if the argument is a certain required Caucasian purity for "Love Letters," bring it on.

Updated On: 9/30/14 at 08:54 PM